The Draw: Who's Your U.S. Open Pick?

In this episode of The Draw, hosts Brian and Nathan preview the 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills while recapping last week’s events.

Starting with the LPGA Tour's Dow Championship and its team format, the hosts discuss Gina Kim and Yana Wilson's first wins on tour despite coming in with limited season form and an ad-hoc partnership formed on the Epson Tour.

On the PGA Tour, Bud Cauley won the RBC Canadian Open for his first PGA Tour victory in his 239th start, completing a comeback from a serious 2018 car accident. Brooks Koepka withdrew with a hand injury, though he was seen this week playing in the U.S. Open practice round. 

Brian and Nathan then preview the LET's Dutch Ladies Open, the Meijer LPGA Classic and, of course, the U.S. Open.

The Draw is a Fairway to Green podcast. See all episodes at www.fairwaytogreen.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, welcome back to the Draw Fairy to Green podcast. The 126th U.S. Open at Shannok Hills is here. But before we get there, we got to talk about last week's sermon.

Dow Championship Team Format Recap

SPEAKER_01 0:09

We'll start with the LPG Tour event, the Dow Championship. It was a two-person event. And Grace Kim and Yana Wilson pick up the win in the paired event, winning in their first pairing at the Dow Champion. So again, dual event, pretty cool. It's similar to the Zera classic over on the PGA tour. But again, to win an LPG tour event is hard no matter what. And it may even be harder with a partner, but good for them kind of getting tuned up before this next woman's major here in a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Yeah, it's a pretty cool event on the over on the LPGA tour. You have the partner championship, the partner tournament, you have best ball, you've got alt shot. So you have like the Thursday and Saturday, you had the alt-shot, and then Friday and Sunday, you had the best ball. So very cool. And we talked about Nelly, Nelly Horda, and Olivia Cowan, their partnership. They were they had a very good tournament on Friday. They played well with the best ball, but unfortunately that alt shot, they shot a 76 on Saturday, so took them out of it. And then I think my pick last week, I had the Awaii twins, and they also had a pretty rough alt shot on Saturday. They shot 74, which took them out

Gina Kim and Yana Wilson's Surprise Win

SPEAKER_00 1:13

of it. But back to the winners with Gina Kim and Yana Wilson. Very random win. I after look researching them, it was it just kind of didn't it kind of came out of nowhere, honestly. Like Gina Kim, she got her LPGA tour card, and then she kind of like Siwoo Kim, where he had his tour card, then lost it and came back. But the difference is with Gina Kim, she hasn't really played well this season. She has she before this tournament, she had four cuts made and nine starts. So not really playing well to make the weekend during the season. And then Yana Wilson is 19 years old. She got her card through the Epson tour. Same with Gina Kim last year. One of them was second, one of them was third. So they kind of formed their partnership by playing with each other last year on the Epson tour. And they talked about it that I said we didn't really have a partnership. Everyone else was picking people, and we were like, I guess, guess we'll go together. So clearly worked out. They played very well on Sunday. And they were getting chased down by Yoju Kim, who we've mentioned many times on this podcast, who has won twice this season. She beat Nellie twice earlier this season. Well, I think she's maybe up to she's definitely a top, I feel like she's top five in the world. Pretty good guess there. So she's up there. And so her and her partner were she had they had the lead on Sunday, and Gina Kim and Yana Wilson they stormed back and they won the tournament. So very cool tournament. And I'm very it's very cool to see at the partner tournaments once a year, and maybe we'll see maybe get to maybe get a match play tournament. But unfortunately, we can't always get to the city.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Yeah, no, it it's it's gotta be hard playing a tournament with another player, especially you're used to just playing by yourself, and all of a sudden, the middle of a year, let's just throw in this team event, which again, I don't mind. I know people hate on the Zerk Classic and don't like, oh, it's not a real win you're doing it with someone else. I'm like, that's still cool. It's still hard to win, especially in the alt shot. Like, you're all the pressure on you to hit the ball for your partner. If you lay put him in a bad spot, then the hole is over and it's like, oh, it's my fault. So again, 19-year-old to win. She's the first LPJ tour player who's 19 to win since 2023. So that's really cool, really hard. Again, any professional win on any golf tour is hard. So congratulations to them again to be a good pairing, staring them down and win it on a Sunday. Again, who knows how far this will lead to them, but now they have a little taste of it, a little experience, and that confidence going forward can only help. So it's it's a really cool event. It's always nice to see first-time winners get that first win. Speaking of first-time winners,

Bud Cauley's Comeback Story

SPEAKER_01 3:41

the PJ tour, Bud Cawley, who finally breaks through, completes his comeback from the car accident in 2018. For those who don't know the story, he was playing in the memorial, gone to Carkton in 2018, broke his leg, I think broke some ribs and all that. He continued to play for two years, didn't do well, and then he shut it down for three years. Didn't play on the PJ tour for three years, came back last year. I think he finished second or finished third, I think a stroke outside the playoff with JJ Spawn at Roy McRae at the players, and it's like, oh, okay. And from all accounts, he's just a really good player that dealt with this terrible car accident. He was played with Justin Thomas at Alabama. Justin Thomas, he's one of the best players I've ever played with. He's one of the best ball strikers. And he goes out and he wins the RBC Canadian Open with a final around 65 to earn his first win in his 39th start. It's just it was a really cool story. I was there Saturday, followed him and Tommy Fleetwood for a couple holes. On the rink hole Saturday, I think he hit it called six inches and the place erupted. So it was really cool. It's a really good win. Again, we've talked about it. I feel like almost every other week now, there's some type of comeback story in the game of golf that's happening. So I think it's been a really fun year for kind of the comeback player of the years in this in that sense.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, I definitely agree. After hearing his story, it's I mean, it's honestly it's amazing to hear what he came back from. And now he's a first now he's a PGA tour winner. He's 38 years old, I believe. So it's a long road and definitely a long journey and very rewarding for him. I know since you're on when you're on the PGA tour, it's usually since you've been playing since you're 10 years old, and it's your job since then. So after going through all that and finally getting his first PGA tour victory, I'm sure the feeling it must be an amazing feeling for him. And I'm congratulations to Bud Collie. And Bud Cauley is in that tier of guys who you always I feel like I put him in that tier of guys where he's always like you see him occasionally in these like non-sinature events, just near the top of the leaderboard, but yeah, not really breaking through. And he finally broke through. But it's good to see the last few weeks we have a couple guys, JT Poston. Yeah, he has a couple more PGA tour wins, but I know it's there certainly not, you're not seeing the what we were seeing at the beginning of the season, which the with the Fitzpatrick and the Cam Young and Rory and Scotty. It's kind of you see these guys with the stories winning now, and it's honestly I think it's pretty refreshing to see seeing these guys on the leaderboard. And speaking of guys who we haven't really seen too much on the leaderboard, Victor Hovlin finished in third place, and that's I mean, he hasn't played like he has been dealing with a lot of swing issues this season. I will say that. You know I always earlier in the season, I'd always see a clip on the range that we can week before tournaments. He's experimenting, he had pool floaties one week, so he's always he's doing a bunch of stuff, he's figuring things out, but he has a couple top 20 finishes this season in the big tournaments, too. The masters, the players, waste management. So he show up in that. But Victor Hovlin, maybe this is a sign of things to come. When Victor Hovlin is playing well, the tour is in a better spot. He I know a couple years ago, if you remember, he won those two FedEx Cup events. I think he might have yeah, I think he won the tour championship, mate, possibly that year with after winning that event. So yeah, he was looking like a top five player in the world, and then kind of, and then after he fired a swing coach, was like, I don't like how my swing is, even though I'm winning all these events, and then now he's on this long journey, and now we're here. So hopefully this is a good sign for Victor Hovlin. I like him a lot, and we'll see how he plays this week in the US Open, which we will get into later.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I mean, he his best finish, this was his best finish since last year's US Open, where he finished solo third again. So he played last really well last year at Oakmont. Shinnikok, we'll see how he plays. But yeah, I mean, I one point Saturday I was watching him play the 18th hole, and on I think he had a drive right down the middle, like 360 yards, which is long for him. And he just hits a terrible iron shot into the pond, not even he didn't even hit into the pond, but it was just up enough on the other side of the pond where he was kind of in the water, and he considered hitting it. He took multiple practice swings in the water and finally took it out and went behind the pond and hit it. I was like, all right, like there's the problem with Victor, is like two years ago, three years when he was winning, he's hitting that ball from the fairway onto the green. Now he's mishitting it from the middle of the fairway. Yes, it's 180 yards, but it's a gettable par five for them. Well, and 180 yards for them is an eight iron, maybe a seven iron. Like it was kind of windy that day. So I think it's just kind of getting consistent. And again, he played well on the weekend. He shot 64, 65. That's really good. Now he finished three shots back because he shot a 69 on Friday, and people were going low Friday. So again, really good weekend. Matt Fitzpatrick, who you mentioned earlier, just another great week. He comes back from behind and he finishes solo second, finishes two shots behind Cauley. Final round 60. A lot of people have him as one of the favorites this week at Shinncock. We'll see. He has a previous US Open, and it's kind of a course that fits him well, but we'll get into that later. Yeah, it was a good tournament. Again, I like your point of it's not the big names always winning. Like again, what Nellie Corter is doing on the LPJ tour is great. But last year, with all the different winners, that was really cool. And now the PJ tour is kind of going through that this year. It's yeah, the year of Scotty and Rory, the last couple of years has kind of happened a little this time, but they each only have one win. So it I like it. I like the different winners every week. You get different stories every week, whether it's Bud Cauley, JT Poston a couple weeks ago, Wyndham Clark finally getting back into the show, all the different storylines that come with different winners, I think, is cool. The one negative out of this tournament is Brooks Kepka.

Brooks Koepka's Injury Watch

SPEAKER_01 9:29

He withdrew in the fourth round or before the fourth round due to hand injury, and I was able to walk with him a couple holes on Saturday. And I picked him up and like I think the sixth hole watched a couple, and he didn't hurt it while I was watching, so I don't really know when he heard it. I just know from listening to the broadcast the next day and people that he did call his physio out a couple different times on the back nine, and they were working on his arm and wrist and hand. So I don't know. He's at Shinnecock, and I've seen him on the range, so we'll see how he feels. I think it was maybe more of a precaution precautionary thing of withdrawing than why I heard it more. I want to go play the major, I only care about majors. I won the last major here. But it was interesting, he looked fine when I saw him, so I don't really know when he did it. I don't know if you did, but it was when I was there, the rough was thicker than normal. I've been to this event four times, a different course every time, but this rough was like thick, so I don't know if it was a lie that he had or did he hit a root somewhere. I have no idea. But it's something to keep an eye out for the last US Open winner at this course.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

For sure. Hand injuries and back injuries are the two very well, I think of injuries that are very in very important to the golf swing. You got the backflip rotations and the hands to square it up around the green. And his thing was I think his ring finger and his pinky finger just couldn't grip the club with those, which three-finger swing, that's just not gonna fare too well when you're trying to win a tournament. And with the major coming up this week, no use to try to risk it for Brooks Kepka because I know he's all about the majors. We want to see Brooks Kepka in the majors, be disappointed and not see him play this week in the US Open. So I wish him the best. He's has had a pretty solid season, all things considered, coming over from Liv and playing the PGA tour for the first time in a few years. So hopefully, yeah, once again, hopefully he plays well next week. And this is a pretty big week coming up. So we'll once again we'll talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Yeah, we'll we'll head into next week. We'll talk about the other tournaments first before I get to the year. So we'll start with the ladies' European

Preview & Picks: Dutch Ladies Open and Meijer LPGA Classic

SPEAKER_01 11:27

tour. They have the Dutch Ladies Open at Goyer Golf and Country Club. Again, Dutch Ladies Open, National Open, anything can happen at these things. I'm gonna go with Georgia Hall as my pick to win. One of the better players in the field. That's gotta help in just getting ready for any upcoming event. I'm going with Georgia Hall as the winner here.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

So for this week, I'm gonna go with Kelsey Bennett. She has a win this season. And when you picked her a couple weeks ago, she had a runner-up, had a tough finish, but she's in contention frequently. And once you're when you're in contention often, then a couple times you're bound to win. So we'll go. She's also in one of the stronger players in the field this week. So we'll see how that goes over there in the Netherlands.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

On the LPJ tour, we have the Meyer LPJ Classic for simply give down in Michigan. Again, a decent field, especially the week before a major. You got Gino's in the field, you've got Brooks Henderson in the field, Hannah Green's in the field. So again, you've got good players. You have Gina Kim who won last week. She's in the field again. Yana Wilson also in the field. Lottie Wood. So it's a pretty good field. Nellie Cordaff taking a break. She's playing the week after the major win again. So I'm not shocked to not see her. Yeah, it's a lot of good players have won this tournament. Leona McGuire, Jennifer Cup show, Nelly won a couple years ago. Lily of last year's Carlotta. To me, I think she's I think the pressure is on her the most in this tournament. So I want to pick Gino, but I don't know if I can just all the talk is around Nelly winning majors. When are you gonna win a major? This is the final tune-up before a major. Can she turn all of that out and play well the week before? I don't know. I'm gonna go with Miyu Yamashida. I was closer between her and Gino, and I'm gonna go with Miu Yamashida, who's played well after earning rookie of the year last year. So Yamashida's my pick for the LPGA event.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Very similar to you, I was very close to picking Gino because there's no Nelly. And we talked about before Nelly and Gino, top two. They've been on another level this week at the season, and Nelly, even higher level than Gino. But for this week, I'm gonna go with Sami Lee. She was T she was finished tied for third last week, and then not the best finish on at the US at the women's US Open, but that's okay. Uh tough course. We'll give her a break. And then, but she finished tied for fourth at the ShopRite LPGA over in New Jersey a few weeks ago, the week before the U.S. Open. So I think that she can continue her strong play. And I think as much as I like Gino, I just there's there's a lot she can't win every week that Nellie's not in, so that's what I'm going off.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah. On to the PJ Tour event, and it is the third major of the year,

Preview & Picks: U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills

SPEAKER_01 14:06

the 126th US Open at Chinnot Hills Golf Club. The first major went to Roy Macker at the Masters, second one to Aaron Rye at Aranamink at the PGA, and now we have the US Open, which is the game's toughest test, is what they say. And from watching Live From on the golf channel and listening to some interviews and listening to some other podcasts, it sounds like it's going to be difficult. The wind is really causing players some havoc from what I was reading, that making some of the greens almost unplayable because the wind is coming in from a different direction than it normally does, and they're predicting that for Thursday. Again, I don't understand how the wind affects putting all the time and all that, but pros can feel every miss little information they can get. So again, it's gonna be a tough golf course. Last time it was here, 2018, Brooks Kepka won. It's a very cool golf course. The fescue is great. It's I'm excited for this week.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah, great week on the PG on the PGA tour. I love the US Open. It's my second favorite tournament besides from the Masters, but I love when the pros look human. Usually we go out there, we see them out there, and they're tearing up the course, going low, and on the US Open and they get punished for hitting in the rough. They gotta they have to hit shots they don't usually hit. So I love it. And the course this week looks amazing. It looks, my from my opinion, it looks more like a I don't know, it looks more like a Lynx golf course, kind of from what I've seen with the fescue and the hills. I think that's from what I've seen. It looks a little different from what the typical American courses look like. And maybe it has the vibes of last year with Oakmont where they didn't really have many trees in the land of the long grass. So hopefully we'll have I saw a video of Bryson DeChambeau also putting a ball in the rough in the fescue, and just good luck hitting out of there. So if you don't have your driver on point this week, good luck. So always gonna be a tough test at the US Open. The best players are gonna win.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

So if you want to bring up a good point of the driving, I was listening to I think they had Wyndham Clark on, I think it was a Smiley Kaufman show. I was listening to that this morning, and they go, the fairways are really wide, but if you miss, you're in the fescue, like you're saying. And they asked Wyndham, he was like, How is the fescue like? Well, it all depends on your lie. If you get buried, you're chopping out, but if it sits up, you can get it to the green, no problem. And he was saying, and Smiley was saying he walked the course with MDC that really the defense of this course is going to be the second shot in the greens. He goes, If your iron game is not on point and your putting is not, he doesn't use it. You don't even have to make burdies. If you just avoid three punts and avoid bogeys, that will put you high up the leaderboard. So it'll be interesting. He mentioned Aaron Rye. He goes, I'm not saying Aaron Rye will win his second major, but he goes, a player like that should play good. And I love your point of this kind of looks like a link see non-American golf course. Ben Griffin, in an interview, I think it was a Friday golf yesterday, goes, This course reminds him of a combination of St. Andrews and I forgot the other open course he said, but with the greens of Pinehurst number two with the turtleback greens and the runoffs and everything. And if that is the case, sign me up. I like I want to see them human. I know it sounds great. The win is a factor already in practice rounds. Again, in 2018, you had Zach Johnson who famously was like, they lost the golf course. This is unplayable. And then you have the clip of Bill Nicholson hitting the putt while the putt is still moving, so it doesn't go down. So this golf course puts professional golfers in shambles, and I am excited for it. I know it's sick, but the golf sickle in me wants to see them struggle. And Wyndham Clark in his interview, he goes, he was like, I don't wouldn't be shocked if even or like minus one wins this week. And if that's the case, that's what I want.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

I love that. I hope we see some crash outs from the PGA players. I know Shane Lowry last year was in some choice words about the golf courses. So maybe we'll get that from him this year. But another thing we haven't mentioned is this is Scotty Scheffler's first chance at the career grand slam. He's got the Masters, he's got the PGA, and he's got the open. So this is his first chance at the Career Grand Slam US Open. He's I think he might be one of the favorites this week. He's always, if he's in the field, he's gonna be one of the favorites, Scotty Scheffler. And he played well a couple weeks ago when he played at the in the event in Texas where Wyndham Clark won. I think he finished third place. So Scotty Scheffler is certainly someone to watch out for this week, as always. I do not have I do not pick him this week. The man who I have picked this week is the man who had all the attention on him in the beginning of the season. I have Cameron Young. I think I predicted this back when we did our predictions at the beginning of the season, but I think Cameron Young has played too well this season to not win a major. I know as of recently he hasn't had his best golf, but Cameron Young this season, six top tens. He has two wins at the players in the Cadillac Championship. He's amazing driver, amazing putter. So two very important aspects. The Irons are also very good. He's won, obviously won a couple events. So I think it I think Cam Young has to get it done this week. It's just he I'm gonna I'm gonna engagement farm Cameron Young again, like I did at the Masters. So we're gonna do it again. But let's see it. Let's see it, Cam Young.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

He's I mean, he is he's in a fit for this course. I know they're like, oh, you don't have to be a bomber. Well, he bombs it and he's straight, so that's good. He has good iron play and his putting is phenomenal. So that pick is, I think that's in he's also from the northeast. He's gotta have some type of history with playing Northeast golf, especially in New York. He grew up at Sleepy Hollow, which is out in that same area. So again, it's a great pick. He's won the players, he won the Durell Championship. I think when we did our preview, I think I picked Scotty to complete the Grand Slam. I found out today that Sunday is his birthday, so he could win and complete the crew grand slam on his birthday, and it's Father's Day this weekend, if I'm not mistaken. So he's a big family guy. So it's all perfect storm for Scotty. I'm not gonna pick him either. There's just something in me, I don't know. There, I just he hasn't played like he has the last couple years, and I think at this golf course, if you're mishitting it a little, if his driver is a little wayward, it could be an issue. And to me, I I was just going through lists, and I'm I've I'm not gonna say I'm done picking the big names for majors, but it never works. Like, why am I not picking like Aaron Rye? So I'm going off the board. It's probably not completely off the board like Aaron Rye was, but I'm gonna go with Tyrrell Hatton. He finished great at last year's U.S. Open at Oakmont. He's from England, he's gonna play well in the wind. He's a good ball striker, he's a good putter. It just there's something about he won his last start on Live. He plays he was T6 here at this US Open in 2018, so he has good memories of this golf course. And if you want to crash out, he'll give you a good crash out. So let's hope he maybe gives us a good crash out because I think he had words to say about Oakmont last year, too. You always gotta have a mic on hand because you never know. But he's gonna be my pick. He's has 16 top tens in his career and majors. I think just something about the way he's played recently and just a style of golf that he plays, I think will play well here. But again, could I see Scotty winning it? Could I see Matt Fitzpatrick winning it? Yeah, but I'm gonna go through and kind of lower on the board, live player wins another US Open similar to Bretton DeChambeau.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

After that build-up, I was so excited to see to hear what you're about to say. And then you said Turrell Hatton, and I'm I now I'm fully bought in that Turrell Hatton is going to win the US Open after what you have just done. So I am now all in on Turl Hatton, so I'm locked in now.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

So my next pick was Siou Kim. I was gonna I was gonna say Si Wukim. I was just like, I'm just ruining it. I know because but his major record is bad. But I'm going like, I'm like, you're right, I pick Rory, I pick Scott. Like, give me someone lower on the board and give me the 30th rank playing the road. Like, I just someone who's a ball striker who can putt well and is important. The driver is important a little this week, but I don't think it's gonna matter. Like, you need to hit fairways. I don't think if it matters if you're really long. I think if you're accurate, I think that's what's gonna matter. But again, I'm so excited for this golf tournament. Um as soon as we're done recording here, I'll pop on live from and write the preview article for the website and do some other stuff and just have that on the next couple days and then sit down and relax and watch this golf course. I hope it's windy. They're saying that I think Thursday and Friday are the mixed days, and they said Sunday is gonna be five to ten, which I think I kind of like. Make it really hard Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then on Sunday, the players kind of fire at the pins, and at that point, the greens are kind of be real dried out. The course is gonna play real firm, and we maybe get some low scores Sunday. I think that will be an exciting way to kick off or kind of end this third leg of the major season.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

We've got a great week. We've got a great weekend of sports going on. You have the US Open and Team USA playing on Friday in the World Cup. So I know this isn't a soccer show, so I won't mention that too much. But big win. 4-1 win. I'll take it. I'm a soccer fan, so best I've ever seen you play. My goodness.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

I yeah, this is great. So yeah, it's a really cool time at the PJ Tour event. There is a lot of it felt just like more international fans than from what I've been there. In Toronto is a pretty multicultural city, but again, there just seemed to be a little more than normal. And then walking around the city of Toronto this weekend, there is Colombian fans, Panama fans, Bosnia fans. So it was a really cool time at the golf tournament in Toronto this weekend. But again, this weekend, also gonna be a good weekend. US Open LPG event, ladies' European tour event, and then next week we get into another LPGA event with the women's PGA championship at Asian Teen, which is another great golf course that is similar to Shanghai, where it's gonna have fescue and not gonna be a very American traditional golf course. So exciting two weeks here in the golf world, especially with these majors. Uh again, check us out, Farada Green, Instagram, website, all that good stuff. Uh again, thanks for listening. Enjoy the golf this weekend, and we'll see you next week.